My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

Friends from Unexpected Places

Chapter 29

Glade

The Train from Feather Top rolled into Ponyville stationed and hissed to a halt. Young Derpy and eTu`nes were the first ones off, with Derpy dragging the drake down to the town.

“I can’t wait to show you all my favorite spots.” Derpy happily said. “There’s Sugar Rush, the local bakery, and the schoolhouse. And there’s this wonderful pond outside of town where we can go to swim. And…”

eTu`nes looked back to Derpy’s family and friends, hoping they would get him out of this. They all shook their heads ‘no’. this was his mess, he has to deal with it.

The citizens of Ponyville watched in confusion as Derpy walked though town, dragging a dragon. “…and then we can…” eTu`nes was able to pull his arm free and shook it to get the blood flowing again.

“that’s great and all, Derpy, but can we get to your house soon?” he felt their eyes on him. “I don’t think everyone here are taking to kind to me.”

Derpy looked around and sputtered in annoyance. “they never saw a dragon before. I just explained that on the ride home.” she took his arm again, much to his surprise and fear. “Come on. I want to show you my favorite spot.” Derpy dragged the unfortunate eTu`nes away, who hopped on one leg while being dragged.

“I knew that Derpy pony was weird but being friends with a dragon?” a Earth Pony mare whispered to a Pegasus of the same sex.

“I think it’s great. It shows that two different species can become the best of friends.” the Pegasus replied.

Derpy lead eTu`nes up a hill. He had given up and just let her drag him. There was no way he was going to talk his way out of this. Derpy reached the top of the hill and turned him around. eTu`nes gasped when he saw the most pleasant view of Ponyville.

“Wow.”

Derpy sat down and got comfortable. “whenever I get… uncomfortable, I come up here and look out at the view. Makes me realize that there must be some worst off then me out there. But still…”

eTu`nes sat down next to her and got comfy. “I know the feeling.”

Derpy took a long yawn and laid down in the grass, placing her head on his lap, much to his embarrassment. “un…. Derpy?”

“did I make the right choice, coming back? I mean, I may have reconciled with Lyra and Octavia but…”

“there were other bullies?”

“Yeah. Berry and Vinyl and Bonbon and Colgate. In fact, everyone in school bullied me. Although, compared to the others, Vinyl and Bonbon are the nicer ones.”

“maybe you can reconcile with them like you did with the other two. Who knows? Maybe those two will be able to make the others nice to you.”

They heard laughter not far from them. They looked and saw those 4 walking up the hill, laughing up a storm. “speak of the devils, there they are.” eTu`nes looked at them with a mean snarl.

“well, look who it is.” Colgate chuckled. “it’s the klutz. Finally decided to reappear after a year, right klutz?” Derpy didn’t dignify her with a response. She learned some good things from her time in Feather Top.

“how about that? She’s putting up a strong front.” Berry chuckled. “how amusing.” she looked at Derpy’s face and noticed the eyes. “oh, sweet Celestia. Look at her eyes. They’re all cross-eyed and weird.” this was what Derpy was regretting with her returning; everyone reacting to her new eyes.

“oh, brother. Not only is she a klutz but a freak as well?” Colgate laughed. “Oh, this just gets better and better. So many good things to rip her apart with.”

eTu`nes heard enough. He got up and pulled Colgate close. “Stop it!” he said in a threatening tone.

“Who’s this, your pet?” Colgate said in a scoffing matter.

“I’m her friend. Now apologize for making her run away!”

“why should I? it’s the truth. She’s a klutz and with those eyes, she’s a freak.”

eTu`nes got really mad and threw Colgate down to the ground. “If anyone’s a freak, you are!”

“excuse me?” Colgate asked in angered surprise. Ever Derpy was surprised he was sticking up for her.

“Derpy is trying to live her life as best she can but ponies like you are always putting her down because she’s a klutz! And now, because of her eyes, you‘re gonna put her down even more? If you think that making someone feel bad is funny, then maybe you should experience it and see how bad it feels. Trust me. It’s not pleasant.”

Vinyl and Bonbon looked at each other, knowing what he was saying is true. Berry also started to feel bad. Colgate, however, was mad that a dragon was being mean to her. Satisfied to have gotten that out of his system, eTu`nes turned and walked back to Derpy. He noticed Lyra and Octavia started up the hill towards them.

“Come on, Derpy.” he helped her up and angrily looked back. “we’re out of here.” the two walked off, leaving those 4 behind to talk amongst themselves.

“who does that dragon think he is?” Colgate angrily said as she got up. “telling me what I can and can’t do.”

“Colgate…” Vinyl said in monotone.

“no no no. I want to see where it says that Derpy should be--”

Suddenly, Lyra pushed Colgate to the ground. “will you shut up for a moment, you idiot!?” they were all surprised to hear that from Lyra. “we did something bad to Derpy. If we didn’t bully her as badly as we did, she wouldn’t have run away, she wouldn’t have been attacked by a giant monster, and her family wouldn’t have been put though such a rough time. It’s our fault and we need to make up for it.”

Derpy gave eTu`nes a quick kiss on the cheek as they walked back to her place, making him blush. “What was that for?”

“standing up for me. Nobodies ever done that for me before. Well, there was my sister but we’re related; we’re supposed to look out for each other.”

That talk of family made him depressed inside. “Family… wish they looked out for me…”

“oh.” Derpy remembered that eTu`nes parents were the ones that beat him to a pulp, leaving him in the sorry state she found him in. “sorry for bringing that up.”

“it’s okay. Shine and Rainbow were nice to me and I hope your family will be nice to me as well.”

“me too. I won’t want you to leave. You’re my best friend.” she looked back to the hill and sighed. “you’re my only friend.”

He wasn’t so sure about that. She had all those friends from Feather Top like Dash, Lightning, and Shine.

The two arrived at Derpy’s house, which was much fancier then he remembered. “wow. In all that confusion, I forgot that you lived in quite a fancy house.”

“well, my family was one of the founders of Ponyville. We had quite a fortune when we inherited it.” she walked up and opened the door. “Come on. I’ll show you my room.”

For the first time in 1 year and 6 months, Derpy walked into her room. It was exactly the same as it was when she left. Posters of famous bands and hot Stallions covered her walls. On her shelves were books, figurines, and a few assorted objects she had collected.

eTu`nes walked in and grabbed a figurine of a Gryphon warrior. “it’s like I… never left at all.” Derpy gasped.

“we left it this way in case you ever came back home.” her mother May Grey said. She and Derpy’s father Comet Skies stood at the entrance to her room.

“We wanted to believe you were alive but, after a year, we started to give up hope.” Comet said.

Derpy hugged her parents with a smile. “I’m glad you didn’t.”

eTu`nes glanced away and placed the figurine back on the shelf.

D.D. pushed herself though her family and comically fell to the ground. “D.D.” a irritated Derpy said, pissed that her sister ruined the moment.

D.D. rubbed her stomach, which is where she hit the hardest. “Sorry, but there’s someone at the door for you.”

“For me?” Derpy and eTu`nes looked at each other with curious expressions.

The two returned to the front door and opened it wide to see the 6 bullies in front of the door. “hey, Derpy.” Lyra cheerfully said. In her anger, Derpy slammed the door shut. “Hey. We just want to talk.” Derpy looked to eTu`nes, who shrugged. Derpy opened the door again.

“What do you want?” Derpy coldly asked.

“nothing.” Bonbon said. “we just wanted to see if you wanted to come play with us.” all of them, including Colgate, nodded in agreement.

Derpy was stunned to hear that from her. “Really?”

“yeah. What your dragon friend said really hit us. Hard.” Berry said.

“and then Lyra and Octavia filled us in on what happened to you.” Colgate said. She walked forward, scratching the back of her neck. “we un… we didn’t realize that you were hurting so much. And with what you experienced, with that Leviathan thing… c--can you ever forgive us?” she offered her hand in friendship.

Derpy looked down at the hoof. This was unexpected, even to the drake. They actually want to be friends with her? Either they really mean it or eTu`nes is foreboding enough to them to try and be friends or face his wrath. Either way, as long as they weren’t bullying her anymore… Derpy cautiously reached out and took Colgate’s hoof. In a sudden surprise act, Derpy pushed her to the ground.

“you’re forgiven.” Derpy said with a chuckle. “and by the way, You’re it.” Derpy ran off with her new friends, laughing with them. Colgate got up and went after them. eTu`nes looked out and smiled. He’s glad that Derpy made peace with them. If only he could do that with his own kind. He turned to go back in when…

“Hey, Drake boy. Wanna play?” Vinyl asked. All the friends waited to hear his answer.

“you… actually want me to play with you all?” a stunned eTu`nes asked.

“of course. More ponies, or in your case, dragon playing, the more fun it is.” Octavia said. “so?”

eTu`nes already had his answer.

Derpy and eTu`nes walked into Derpy’s room, laughing up a storm.

“Did you see the look on Berry’s face when she pulled her face out of the mud?” Derpy laughed.

“Did I?” eTu`nes fell onto Derpy’s bed and laughed. “I was the one who took a picture. I had to hide the camera fast enough so she didn’t get suspicious.”

Derpy took a few deep breaths, calming down from the intense laughter. “I never thought I’d ever see them be nice to me. Guess you really made a difference.”

eTu`nes smiled and patted her on the back. He jumped off, grunting on impact. “well, I’m getting tired.”

Derpy yawned and licked her lips. “yeah. Me too.” she looked back to her bed and smiled. “this will be the first time in a year since I laid in my own bed. I spent so much time sleeping on the ground or in a queen sized bed.” she climbed under the sheets and sighed with content. “just like I remember it.”

eTu`nes looked around but didn’t see any other beds. “where do I sleep?”

“I talked to mom and dad. You have the guest room just across the hall. You can do with it however you want.”

“oh.” he looked across the hall and saw the door. “well, thanks Derpy. I…” the sound of Derpy snoring filled the room. eTu`nes chuckled with a sigh. He pulled the blanket over the sleeping foal and kissed her on the forehead. “welcome home, Derpy.” he walked out and slowly closed the door behind him.

He opened the door to his new room and went directly to the bed. Dirt-tired, he fell onto it and instantly fell asleep, but not before a smile wormed it’s way in. for the first time ever, he had a family.

18 years later…

“Come on. This is taking forever. Why is she taking so long?” a anxious Armor asked.

“She’ll come when she comes.” Cadence said, laying in a bed.

Armor, Cadence, and Twilight sat in a hospital room assigned to the expectant mother, who was about to give birth. Well, one of these days. What’s surprising is that she was in labor for 5 days and is still holding strong. Say what you will about her, Cadence can take pain well.

“are you even sure it’s a she?” Twilight asked.

“Well, that’s what it feels like.” Cadence said. A contraction hit, causing her to hold her stomach in pain. When it passed, she panted. “and that’s something I wish I couldn’t feel.”

Twi gulped out of fear. She’s gonna be in that situation in 5 months with Starlight. “um… just to clarify, how bad does it hurt?”

Cadence for a comfortable spot and laid there. “a LOT!” trust me. You want a epidural.”

Twi got nervous beyond content. “that’s good to know.” she nervously said with a hint of fear.

Cadence sensed her sister-in-laws fear and chuckled. “trust me, Twi. The payoff will be worth all the pain.” Twilight wasn’t so sure. She was hit with quite a number of painful objects over the years but, by the looks of Cadence‘s face when a contraction hits, labor pain is going to be bad.

Speaking of labor pains, Cadence got hit with another one, a much more painful one then last time.

4 days have passed since the end of the Winter War. During the final battle, Jax was able to successfully cast the ‘separate’ part of her Personality Shift spell. What that part of the spell does is that it turned the Changeling Queen Chrysalis into two halves; the good Light half that is currently ruling the Changelings, and the evil Dark half, which they were able to destroy with a Triple Dragon Slave cast by Requiem, Jax, and Lina and powered up by the Elements of Harmony.

In the aftermath, the Ponies had taken in the Changelings as if they were friends to begin with. Some of them are already starting relationships. The most famous one is Fluttershy and Mirror’s Edge. Thanks to Edge’s ‘death’, it gave the group the push necessary to beat Dark Chrysalis but save their world. But, something that Dark Chrysalis said is still ringing in the heroes ears.

“This world doesn’t belong to you! It belongs to me and His Eminence! Soon, my brothers and sisters will rise and take this planet back for our glorious father. And then, this pathetic rock will experience true darkness beyond compare!”

Who, or what, was his Eminence? It couldn’t have been Oscurita. He appeared the same time as the humans 7 months ago. And Dark Chrysalis said it was her father, though Light Chrysalis doesn’t remember a thing about a Eminence. Either Dark Chrysalis was insane, or she knew something her Light counterpart didn’t know about. And what about Brothers and Sisters? Was there more then one out there? Was it a cult? Either way, it gave everyone something new to worry about.

And as for the halves, these were all notes Jax put down for her spell. She used both variations once and it’ll take multiple uses in order to get all the side-effects down. But for what she has now for the ’split into good and evil’ part of the spell, The Pure Good half is one to talk, open up to peace, and cares for her people. The Pure Evil half goes by it’s name; evil though and though. Dark Chrysalis was practically giggling like a schoolgirl when she was harming everyone. She practically had a orgasm when she ‘killed’ Edge. If Jax has to divide someone into two halves again, she’s gonna have to be careful to avoid another Chrysalis Incident and hope the shlup wasn’t a ultra-powerful force of destruction to begin with.

and like every war, not everyone got out alive. More then 150 Ponies and Gryphons were killed during the Battle of Canterlot, Dash’s half-brother Soarin’ included, leaving Dash the last member of her family and Scootaloo without a home. Instead of jumping, like she did when Shadow left, Dash instead resorted to drinking her troubles away.

Dash slammed a empty cider mug onto a bar counter within the castle kitchen and called for another. “Another Cider. And make it a double!” she drunkenly called out.

“don’t you think you had enough?” the barkeep asked.

“I’ll decide when I had enough. Now hit me with another.”

The Barkeep shrugged and took it. He wasn’t going to argue.

Canterlot Castle was the first thing rebuilt after the war and is currently serving as a refugee camp until the buildings around it were rebuilt. With help from their new Changeling allies and the Otherworldly Heroes, they were able to rebuild it a lot faster then if it was by themselves by working nonstop. And ever since it was rebuilt, Dash has spent every day in a makeshift bar, getting drunk to avoid feeling sad for losing Soarin’.

“oh, brother. Not again.” Shadow sighed as he spotted Dash and walked over. “Dash. You gotta stop drinking.”

“I’ll stop when I feel like it.” Dash replied in a slur. She went to drink again. Shadow rolled his eyes and pulled the mug out of Dash’s hands. Foam from the mug still lingered on Dash’s hooves. She licked it off, falling off her stool in the meantime.

“oy, vey.” Shadow sat down next to Dash. “Listen, D. you can’t drink your troubles away. Soarin’ is dead. You have to accept that.”

“I am in my own way.”

“by getting drunk?” Dash nodded once. The nod back made her fall again. Shadow grumbled as he looked to the camera. “Dash. Think about this for a second. How would Scootaloo think if her idol, and probably the only family she has left, was a fat stinking drunk. And what about Eris? Would she really like her mother to be a drunkard?”

Dash’s drunken mind didn’t really hear all that and, therefore, couldn’t process it. Also, Dash fell asleep. “good grief.” Shadow sighed. He huffed Dash onto his back. “keep this up, we’re gonna need to stage a intervention.” he muttered as he left, a unconscious Dash on his back.

Remember when I said Fluttershy and Edge are the most famous Changeling/Pony couple? Well, that’s not entirely true. They were well known, but because they were the first Pony/Changeling in Equestrian history, and they didn’t have big ol’ Wonderbolt status. The story of their romance is well known, though. Divided by a horrendous war, only to be reunited by a mad queen and her tyrannical ways. There’s already talks that Steven Coltberg is going to turn it into a movie. The new couple didn’t care, though. They were just happy to be in each other’s arms. Speaking of the couple…

Fluttershy and Edge slept at on the edge of a lake, holding each other close. This was a romance that seems too perfect to be true; almost like it was a dream. Well, if it was a dream, they don’t want to wake up.

Edge woke up to see his new marefriend fast asleep on his chest. He was so lucky to have someone like Fluttershy. He remembers when they were just the best of friends. Now, their love is well known.

Fluttershy woke up, yawned, and looked at Edge. “morning.” she sweetly said.

Edge looked up to the sky to find the sun. “more like good afternoon.”

“afternoon?” Fluttershy rubbed her eyes. “we slept for 15 hours?”

“well, we did have quite a… wild night.” Edge said with a wicked snicker.

“wild? You practically torn me in half.” Edge sat back with a snicker. Fluttershy playfully hit him. “where’d you learn that move?”

“un…” Edge thought back. “this old copy of Mares Gone Wild.” Fluttershy playfully raised a eyebrow. “What? This was long before us.”

Fluttershy playfully chuckled, closed her eyes, and kissed him on the lips. Edge closed his eyes and kissed back. When they broke the kiss, they looked at each other such love-struck eyes, a romance hater would gag to death.

“I love you, Mirror’s Edge.”

“I love you too, Fluttershy.”

The two kissed again only to have their moment ruined when Zilver came running towards them. Fluttershy covered up their indecency. “Zilver!”

“you better have a good reason for coming here.” Edge angrily said.

Zilver panted as he looked away. He didn’t want to see them together, but he had big info.

The hospital was the next building reconstructed after the battle. A whole lot of wounded were admitted into the place, including the laboring Cadence… and a heavily wounded Dinky.

Derpy sadly looked down at her daughter, who was hooked up to a whole bunch of machines. Dinky was still alive, barely, after Chrysalis basically beat her to a pulp. Not even the humans cure spells could heal her, making it a “Dinky…” Derpy said with a scratch in her throat. Why would Jax let her get beat up this bad, to the point of near death. It just isn’t fair. She fell to her knees and fell to her bed. She was only 7. She doesn’t deserve this.

Outside, Jax walked to a help counter with some flowers. “Excuse me. Can you tell me where Dinky Whooves is?”

A nurse looked and found her chart. “un, room… 22.” she looked down the hall to her right. “down there, 5 door on the right.”

“thanks.” Jax walked down to her room, going over what she was going to say to Derpy. She was going to apologize until her throat was sore and her guilt went away.

Easier said then done.

Jax walked in and, sure enough, there was Derpy, sobbing into Dinky’s bed. “un… hey, Derpy.” Jax said with a scratch. Derpy angrily looked up from Dinky’s bed when she heard her voice. “I… I want to say I’m sorry an--”

“Go. Away.” Derpy angrily said, not even looking to her.

Jax shook her head ‘no’. “no.” Derpy angrily got up, walked over, and just stared at her.

Jax fell backwards into the wall from a mean right cross from Derpy. She hit a desk, causing it to fall with her.

“How could you let her be like this!?!” Derpy cried with tears in her eyes. “Why couldn’t you protect her!?!”

Jax didn’t want to look at Derpy and glanced away. “I… I’m so so sorry. I didn’t know she was like that until Chrysalis showed her to us. I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry? I’m sorry!?! My Daughter is in a coma she may never come out of all because you couldn’t protect her!” tears began to fall and a audience began to form. “She’s the only good thing left in my life! She’s…” Derpy stuttered for a moment. “She’s the only thing I have left of her father.” Jax didn’t know that part. Now she felt even worse. Derpy fell to her knees and kept crying. “she’s the only light in my life now.”

Jax got up from her fall, noticed the audience, and closed the door. “Derpy…”

“Just… just leave. You’ve done enough.”

Jax’s guilt hit a all-time low. Any lower and she’d have to kill herself to avoid it. But… seeing Derpy like this… it was just too much. “Derpy… again, I’m sorry.”

Suddenly, the door burst open and a panting Pinkie stood there. “Pinkie?” both of them somberly said. “what’s going on?”

“it’s Cadence. She’s having her baby.”

Cadence pushed down to get the baby out of her. Nobody told her how much pain there was going to be. Only her, the doctors, and Armor stayed in the room with her. she stopped to catch her breath. “nobody… told me… how much… this was going… to hurt…”

“if they did, the entire pony race would go extinct.” the doctor said.

Armor kissed her on the forehead while holding her hoof. “you’re doing fine. The baby is almost here.” Cadence smiled with a pant. When the next contraction hit, she pushed down again.

The humans and ponies waited out in the nearest waiting room. The wait was killing them. Twi explained what she saw and heard to Rarity and Lyra, who aren’t exactly thrilled for when they go though the same thing in 10 months.

“it’s really that bad?” Lyra asked.

“From what I heard, yeah.” Twi feverishly said, not wanting to believe it herself. “and even though she has a epidural, it hurts like nothing she ever felt.”

“oh, great.” Rarity sarcastically said. “something great to look forward to. And I’m having one that’s half dragon so the scales are going to be murder on my insides.”

“if it has scales.” Lyra added.

“well…” Octavia sat down with them. “it does hurt but… seeing that new pony in your hooves, knowing that you crafted another living being… there’s no other feeling like it in the world.”

Well, that gave the 3 pregnant mares something positive about childbirth, though not much. “hope Trixie and Luna are fans of pain.” Req muttered.

“beg pardon?” Rarity asked.

“oh. They didn’t tell even Celestia this but, back in Feather Top, when we were constructing all those Airships, they went to a doctor and, though some egg switching mumbo-jumbo and artificial insemination, Luna is now pregnant with Trixie’s baby and Trixie is pregnant with Luna’s baby.”

The entire room looked at her with confused expressions. “How in Tartarus did you find that out if they kept it a secret?” Spike asked.

Req touched her pointer finger to her nose. “I have my sources.”

Shadow arrived with the CMC and cracked his back. “where’s Dash?” Gilda asked.

“passed out drunk. Again.” Shadow explained as he sat down. “guess she’s taking this Soarin’ thing pretty hard.”

“well, how would you feel if you lost your long-lost brother, and the member of your family that would make you the last one to carry on the line?” Hiccup asked. Shadow hated to admit it but he had a point.

Speaking of the wedded couple mentioned earlier, they, along with Celestia and Chrysalis, walked into the room. Pinkie couldn’t help but yell out ‘Congratulations!’ to Trixie and Luna. Somehow, they weren’t surprised. “Req told you, didn’t she?” they both asked, not really caring.

“like a bag of marbles.” Req said as she used a knife to carve a apple.

“but why did you want to keep it a secret?” Fluttershy asked.

“well… we just wanted to. With the war, the battle, and the aftermath, saying that we were pregnant didn’t seem like a good idea.” Luna said.

“Ditto.” Trixie said. Cadence’s painful scream reached from her room to them. “although, now I think I’m starting to regret it.”

Riku sat back in his seat and brought his drink to his mouth. “well… sometimes the best things in life are worth any hardship. So, when you’re going though all that pain for another life, then it has to be worth it. Otherwise, nature wouldn’t made it painless and easy to get it over with, then maybe having a child would seem like a bother. Right?”

The girls of both species never thought about it like that. Did any girl ever think about it like that? Jax and Derpy slowly arrived, both of them still down by what happened to Dinky, when Armor slowly came out of Cadence’s room with such a dumb expression.

“it… it’s a boy.”

Everyone got wide smiles. Some of them cheered, some of them clapped, both his biological sister and sister-in-laws ran over and hugged him. Even Jax and Derpy felt happy, despite what happened to Dinky.

Cadence held her newborn son in her hooves with such a big and loving look. He was born at 15 lbs, 5 ounces with skin color like his father but the coloration of his mother. Same held true for the mane; same design as the father but the same color as the mother. She heard the door opened and looked up.

“I wanna see the baby!” Pinkie exclaimed, trying to get though.

“once at a time, Pinkie.” Amelia grunted, trying to hold her back with Spyro’s and Ash’s help. “they both went though a traumatic…” Pinkie was able to overpower them and run in, making all 3 of them fall to the floor. “…experience.”

“aw. He’s so adorable.” Pinkie said in a whine.

“Give her some room, Pinkie. She just had it.” Req said, pushing her away.

“but he is sooohohoho cute!” Sora exclaimed like the party pony. “can I hold him?”

Cadence nodded and slowly handed the baby to Sora. She gently took it and instantly went into mother mode. “Hey there, cutie. Choochy, choochy coo. Coochy coochy coo.”

Armor walked back to his wife and kissed her on the forehead. “you did good, dear. You did good.” she said to him.

“me? You’re the one who did all the work. I just supplied the tools.” Cadence weakly chuckled at that and kissed him.

Sora glanced over to Jax and got a idea to turn that frown upside down. “here Jax. You’re next.”

“What!?” before she could protest, Sora passed the baby to her. “un… hey there. I’m the reason you’re alive.” everyone rolled their eyes and groaned. They knew she was going to bring saving the world up when the tyke was born.

“did you think of a name yet?” Lina asked.

Cadence and Armor looked at each other and smiled. “we sure did. His name is Glade.” Armor said.

All the girls went aw at the name. “Glade. That’s a nice name.”

“that’s not the full name.” Cadence said. “his real name is Glade Yggdrasill.”

Yggdrasill? After Jax and Sora? The sisters looked at each other, then to Cadence. “why that name?” they both asked.

“well, as Jax said, I own her for keeping me, and Glade, alive. If it wasn’t for her help when we were prisoners, I think we would’ve lived to see today. Or for anyone else to see today if it wasn’t for that spell you pulled.”

Jax and Sora felt honored and they showed that with a tearful smile. they can only imagine what it would be like when they had children of their own. “hey there, Glade. You’re named after us.”

As if he timed it, Glade opened his eyes, revealing them to be the same as his mom, and looked up at Jax. “oh. He’s looking at me. He opened his eyes and he’s looking at me.”

And then, as if timed again, Nurse Redheart came in. “All right. Time to go. Momma and baby need to rest.” everyone groaned in sadness. They didn’t want to leave; barely any of them got to hold the baby. “you’ll get your chance later. Right now, they need to rest.”

“okay.” Jax slowly handed the baby back to Cadence then went to leave with the others. At the door, she looked back at the new family, adding new guilt to almost breaking up another. There had to be some way to save Dinky. There just had to be.